Death Race (DVD)

Death Race is a remake of Death Race 2000, which starred David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone in the roles now played by Jason Statham and Tyrese Gibson.  The plot revolves around, you guessed it, a race to the death in which the drivers are all violent prisoners and the winner earns his freedom.  In the original, the race was cross-country, cannonball run style. 

In the latest iteration, the race is limited to a predetermined course, confined on an island which also houses the prison.  Frankenstein is the current champion with 4 victories, needing only one more victory to earn his freedom.  Statham is brought in to replace Frankenstein, who was badly injured in an explosion in the last race, compliments of Gibson’s character Machine Gun Joe. 

Fortunately, Frankenstein wears a mask at all times since his face is so disfigured from numerous crashes over the years, so all Statham has to do is wear the mask , drive the car, and win. Easy right?

What follows is fairly predictable with plenty of explosions, shootings, crashes, and more explosions. If you rented this looking for romance, you may need to make another trip to the video store. This is a typical “guy’s” movie through and through. While the action and plot may be predictable, Death Race is surprisingly fun and entertaining throughout. 

While Death Race borrows liberally from other movies, including the original, it manages to package all of its recycled material into a surprisingly engaging and high octane film.  Perhaps the biggest key to enjoying this film is  if you can see past the implausibility of it all.  Like many Statham movies, the action is over the top and many times far removed from being remotely believable.  However, his films (the good ones anyway) have become a bit of a guilty pleasure as the impressiveness of his athleticism and the creativity of his stunts seems to entertain far past the point of a need for reality. 

The supporting cast is pretty good also. Tyrese Gibson does a good job as arch nemesis Machine Gun Joe and he manages to keep the character from being too campy while maintaining just enough menace to be a formidable opponent to Statham’s Frankenstein.  Joan Allen is impressive also as the warden who not only oversees the prison but also Death Race itself, which has become the most popular television show.  The rest of the supporting cast does a fine job also and they fit in nicely to the world created in the film.  Again nothing ground breaking here, but definitely worth checking out if you’re looking to be entertained for two hours.